Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Beast Tide, the Second Faction of the Otherworld (Part 2)
"Colonel Lin, the explosives equipped on Captain Yao’s aircraft, are they really there?"
Upon hearing Lin Li’s question, Lin Ziming was momentarily stunned, then he replied:
"That’s right. To be precise, both of the AC311A helicopters dispatched by us are equipped with explosives and a small amount of light weapons."
It’s a relatively obscure piece of knowledge that rescue helicopters from the Rabbits’ aerospace crew are equipped with explosives.
Of course, this configuration is limited to official rescue teams, while civilian rescue organizations do not have such permissions.
The explosives equipped in these aerospace crews mainly comprise high-explosive timed charges.
The explosives are usually loaded in a safe box behind the co-pilot seat and require tower authorization to be used.
The primary purpose of equipping rescue crews with these explosives is to clear blockages or potential mini-barrier lakes during large natural emergencies.
Generally speaking, the usage rate of explosives by rescue crews in the southeastern region of our country is one to two times per hundred thousand: taking Shencheng as an example, the official rescue crew in Shencheng deploys twice a day (rescue crews don’t only deploy under special circumstances, they actually have daily patrol tasks), with around 800 ignition occurrences a year.
Adding up all cities in the southeastern region, the total ignition occurrences by rescue crews per year would be around 6-8000 times.
One to two times per hundred thousand, meaning airborne explosives might only be used once every decade.
It is indeed so.
The last record of aerospace crew using high-explosive charges in the southeastern region was during a great flood many years ago.
At that time, a rescue team from the Eastern Theater Command dropped several batches of explosives to urgently flood a blocked area.
In the west, due to more mountainous terrain and complicated topography, the usage rate of explosives is slightly higher, yet still only four to five times per ten thousand, barely used once every few years.
It’s worth mentioning here.
Although the use of explosives by the Rabbits’ rescue crews is very low, abroad—especially over at the Eagles’ side—the usage frequency of explosives is actually very high.
Many mountain ranges belonging to the Eagles are part of the Cordillera system, complex terrain, lots of foolhardy survivalists, often trapped unable to get out.
In those places, rescue machinery has trouble maneuvering, and the Eagles’ manpower costs are notoriously high.
Therefore, when encountering obstacles, Eagle rescue teams often directly resort to explosives—boom, the road opens, and people go flying.
The fatality rate from explosives for the Rabbits is almost zero (since there’s hardly ever a need to use them), while the Eagles’ fatality rate is as high as 8%, with a casualty rate of 26.6%.
What’s the saying?
Free as the living, random as the dying, right?
Ahem.
Back to the main point.
Apart from the explosives,
The light weapons on helicopters are equipped by military units before takeoff.
After all, when undertaking aerial reconnaissance missions in alien worlds, being armed with firearms is perfectly normal.
Yao Rong, an undisputed veteran in the field as Captain, has received relevant training over the years.
Able to throw explosives, has also fired on targets.
Not to combat level but has militia proficiency.
At least not clueless like those new recruits who don’t even know how to pull the bolt.
Overall, Yao Rong has a certain degree of military literacy.
At this moment, with this military literacy as the foundation, a bold plan started forming in Lin Li’s mind.
However, before determining the plan, Lin Li needed to confirm Captain Yao’s willingness and capacity.
He contemplated for a few seconds and picked up the communicator:
"Captain Yao, based on your flying experience, please assess:
If the helicopter descends to an altitude of 500 meters and targets the extraordinary creatures with timed explosives, would this threaten your life?"
In the cockpit, Captain Yao’s thick, sword-shaped eyebrows raised, instantly grasping Lin Li’s intent—the extraordinary creatures are already near the city, and the command center urgently requires various information on these creatures.
And using explosives to test whether thermal weapons can penetrate these creatures is the most straightforward and simple method.
Once thermal weapons prove effective against these creatures, the base’s subsequent decisions will be much easier.
Furthermore, there’s no other aerial firepower support at this moment, ground troops must not act recklessly under unknown conditions, and missiles with ranges over ten kilometers are still recalculating paths.
If they wait till the creatures approach the city to launch close-range missiles, it risks exposing the Rabbits’ presence.
So, after considering all possibilities, Captain Yao’s AC311A is not very suitable but is the only choice.
Yet as a civilian light aircraft, dropping explosives carries certain risks—it’s impossible to just toss the explosives below, and the helicopter can then wiggle its rear away, this isn’t kids dropping bombs in toilets and racing off.
After deploying the bombs, Captain Yao’s crew must observe and document the damage on the extraordinary creatures due to the explosion.
Additionally, considering obstructions like smoke, the helicopter’s flying altitude shouldn’t be too high.
There are evidently extraordinary individuals among the creatures below, executing this mission is akin to dancing on a knife-edge in extreme joy.
"..."
In that instant, Captain Yao thought of many things.
His gaze turned complex, finally growing resolute:
"Captain Lin, whether there’s a threat to life, I’m not sure.
"As a member of the Fire Squad, I apply, in my capacity as a D officer, for my crew to carry out the explosive deployment."
The command center suddenly fell into silence.
A few seconds later, Lin Li slowly spoke:
"Captain Yao, you might not understand what I mean; I’m not forcing you to accept this mission.
You have the right to choose to refuse execution. The possibility of those leader-level beasts possessing anti-air capabilities is very high. You..."
Before he finished speaking, amidst the characteristic static of wireless communication, Yao Rong’s determined reply came through: "Command center, repeat, this is the 8633 crew. I apply for explosive deployment."
Lin Li’s Adam’s apple moved up and down twice, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Then he opened them abruptly and gestured firmly to Bo Binghui: "Authorization!"
Soon, an authorization code was sent to Yao Rong.
Yao Rong glanced at the code, gently put it aside, and then looked ahead:
"Old Yu, I observed this area just now. The mountaintop to the west is a high-quality natural helipad. Later, I’ll drop you off there, you hold the locator. If anything happens to me, the camp will find you soon."
Yao Rong’s tone was as calm as if he were chatting about daily life. Yu Guanghui froze for a full two seconds before realizing Yao Rong was speaking to him, immediately turning red-faced:
"Damn, what the hell are you talking about? Am I the kind of person who’s afraid of dying? I was just wondering why you didn’t ask for my opinion before making a statement; so this is what you were scheming?"
Yao Rong did not expect his partner’s reaction to be so intense and quickly explained: "You have a wife and children back home, I was thinking..."
"You also have a wife and kids! Damn, two children, even!"
Yu Guanghui shouted, his eyes filled with anger, vigorously poking his chest with his index finger: "Huh? Me, Old Yu, Yu Guanghui, in your eyes, am I someone afraid of dying? So lacking in awareness? I’m still your D introducer!"
Yu Guanghui said this, viciously spitting on the ground: "Afraid my ass!"
Seeing this, Yao Rong gave a bitter smile and said nothing more.
Knowing his partner’s character well, he knew Yu Guanghui would absolutely not change his mind at this moment: "Alright, then let’s do it together, Old Yu, prepare the explosives!"
........
Six minutes later, a bundle of high-explosive timed explosives was fully calibrated.
Yao Rong then maneuvered the aircraft, its altitude slowly lowered to about 500 meters above the ground.
As the altitude of the aircraft dropped, the mechanical roar soon caught the attention of the beast square on the ground.
A leading scaled giant serpent screeched sharply, raising the upper half of its body high, vigilantly staring at the helicopter circling in the sky.
The other beasts, as if receiving orders, halted, raising their heads to roar madly at the helicopter.
The simultaneous roar of thousands of beasts was quite overwhelming, with countless bloodthirsty mouths aimed straight at the helicopter. If it lowered further, the stench might just asphyxiate Yao Rong and his partner.
"Three, two, one, release!"
With Yao Rong’s countdown, Yu Guanghui quickly pressed the timed explosive switch and then forcefully tossed it out.
The timed high-explosive’s weight was about five pounds, roughly equivalent to 15 offensive grenades, each packed with 50 grams of explosives.
The explosive’s blast wave radius was about 18 meters, lethal radius between 0-6 meters.
Regarding buildings,
A distance of 2-3 meters from the blast center could completely destroy 200mm thick concrete, while 5-6 meters could cause most of a 1.5 layer brick wall to collapse, and bring down 2 layers’ thick brick walls, with tile roofs caving in.
Beyond six meters, the explosive force diminishes significantly, sometimes failing to shatter glass 20 meters away.
It’s understandable, being rescue explosives, primarily focused on the blast center, with not much dispersed elsewhere.
But for the beast formation on the ground, this kind of explosive could still achieve certain results.
The explosives fell rapidly from a high altitude, coincidentally hitting the leading giant serpent!
"Boom——"
The explosives exploded loudly among the beasts, kicking up dust waves.
The beast formation experienced some chaos, but surprisingly, this small chaos lasted less than ten seconds before being controlled.
It didn’t spread into a trampling tragedy, it didn’t even extend beyond a fifty-meter range.
This was not good news.
A moment later, the dust cleared.
At the center of the explosion, about two or three black giant serpents were blasted into a bloody mess, with several nearby beasts also injured, crying endlessly.
However, the leading twenty-meter giant serpent appeared unscathed.....
"No, it’s bleeding!"
Yu Guanghui suddenly shouted, quickly pressing several buttons on the control panel, manipulating the helicopter’s external camera to lock tightly onto the serpent’s head:
"There’s a wound about 20 centimeters on the serpent’s lower jaw, the blood is purple, deep enough to expose the bone! The explosives penetrated it!"
Just as Yu Guanghui fully focused on the wound of the serpent, the serpent showed a very human-like hatred in its eyes.
With a whistle, its mouth opened as if concocting something.
Yao Rong’s heart jolted, instinctively pulling the control lever upward forcefully.
The next second.
A green flame burst out from the serpent’s mouth heading straight for the aircraft!